groundhog day

Listen to our conversation here with Dana DeBenham, director of the Howell Conference and Nature Conservatory.

Punxatawney Phil isn't the only groundhog prognosticator!

Michigan's got an official groundhog. Her name is Woody, and she lives at the Howell Conference and Nature Center. But for this year's Groundhog Day, they had to send in a "pinch hitter:" a groundhog named Murray!

Well, it’s Groundhog Day, there’s a foot of snow, and I’d guess most of the state’s woodchucks aren’t even thinking about coming out of their burrows, let alone looking for their shadows.

Our lawmakers aren’t anywhere near the Capitol Dome either; they prudently took a couple of days off. But they’ll be back soon, and hopefully at work straightening out the state’s finances.

People may differ on how our lawmakers should balance the books, and put our state on a permanently sounder footing.

But nobody wants any further repeats of Groundhog Day. As in the movie of that name where the main character has to keep repeating the same day over and over.

He had to do that, as I recall, until he learned a profound lesson about life. Our legislators have been doing a version of that for years. Papering over serious problems; going for quick fixes, kicking problems down the road for future generations to deal with.